living_dead said:
I have a pair of these lovely fish and would like to try to breed them. ......How would I go about getting these beauties to breed?
Hi Living_Dead
I've never tried to raise paradise fish, but I've had luck with gouramis and I think they should be pretty much the same.
If so, they will probably breed for you with no problems. The harder part is raising the fry, so be prepared with tiny live food before you begin. Here's a link you might want to check out:
http/www.livefoodcultures.com/
They will be very small at birth and must have something smaller than powdered flake food. You can't feed the liquid fry food because it will make a coating on the surface of the water and you cannot let that happen because it will interfere with the development of their labyrinths.
That is the most important thing to prepare for if you plan to breed them.
As for the actual breeding, just set up a small, planted tank the way you normally would. Be sure there is somewhere the female can wait while the male makes the nest and/or escape to if he gives her trouble. You can have gravel which will make it easy to cycle before you start. (The fry stay at the top so you can clean it if it becomes necessary.)
I don't think you have to lower the water or change the temperature to get them to breed; once they have a tank to themselves it should be no problem. When you have the tank ready, introduce the female a day or two ahead of the male so that he will be going into what he thinks of as "her" territory, not the other way around.
I like to condition the pair on live bloodworms for a week or two before breeding.
Good luck!
Please let us know how it goes if you do breed them!